Melinda Campbell, Puppet Inc. and Dom DeGuzman, Twillo being interviewed for KGW's 7pm live in Portland show

"I had trouble leaving the dressing room as folks started to gather at the Super: Women in Tech event. A show of this scale, featuring women in technology had never been done before. The nerves of whether or not people will attend your party begins to set in." - Zoe Piliafas, Co-founder of Vox Siren and Executive Producer of Super: Women in Tech

BackFence PDX and Vox Siren sat down last spring and came up with the concept of the show. They decided to jump in and jump in a BIG way. Why not select, Revolution Hall, one of the largest and most luxurious venues in Portland to host your first show together? This meant that all we needed to do was gather 800 people for a night of listening, learning, laughing and wonder. No problem.

"Before going on stage, the thought of 700+ pairs of ears and eyes focused on you is super intimidating, but the audience was so warm and supportive, that within a few minutes it felt like I was telling a story in my living room. I didn't expect to feel comfortable with the pauses and the silent moments in my talk, but I did."- Melinda Campbell, Puppet Inc.

Everything about this show was a woman-led-solution. We know that while, Equity and Diversity trainings have value, there are so many other ways to explore and validate the experiences of women. Super: Women in Tech is not a Ted Talk, it's not a conference. Super: Women in Tech brings back one of the oldest art forms, oral tradition. There is no accompanying powerpoint, there is just a spotlight, a microphone and a woman on stage sharing with us a part of her story, a part of her journey. It's undeniable. It's raw. It captivates.

The first believer in our event was Laura Stepp, formerly the Director of People with Puppet Inc. now Jama. She took a risk and became our first sponsor. Laura's magic, has been built on her strong reputation, she then introduced Vox Siren to other women leaders to gather support. The women in the tech industry made this event possible. Hats off to your leadership.

Elemental's Community and Diversity Program Manager, Nancy Garcia was hired recently because Elemental recognized that it needed to take Diversity and inclusion initiatives to the next level. Nancy learned about the event and within weeks got the support of her Elemental Team.

"Elemental created this role to formalize our commitment to D&I in the workplace and to take the steps needed to further momentum." says Nancy. "We believe in the power of diversity and recognize that world-class innovation stems from inclusion, equality and transparency... We strongly believe that if we practice diversity, we attract diversity and my role is to ensure that D&I is ingrained in our daily business operations at all levels."

Leah Siddall, Elemental Technologies. Photo Credit: Renee Lopez

This show was different. It got us all quiet for a moment in time. A moment to listen. There was no expected response. One woman after another, got up, tested her courage, and captivated us. We all left with a new perspective, a new conversation.

We have been asked, are you going to do this again, please do this again! We have some ideas brewing of future possibilities. We would love to hear yours! If you have thoughts, suggestions, want to get involved or folks you want to see on stage, please contact Zoe Piliafas at zoepiliafas@gmail.com

First, Tia Coachman is a badass diva! She is on the Vox Siren board and upon learning about the Super: Women in Tech Live Storytelling Event - she said I bet folks at Wieden and Kennedy would be interested in partnering on this. Then, she did what all excellent leaders do, she got good people in a room, provided direction, encouraged discussion and then magic happened. Together we designed a coloring book, unlike anything out there! A coloring book that has the mastery of graphic design that comes from the talented W+K folks and is paired with the witty writing style of B. Frayn Masters. Next, she found us Saira Weigel, Executive Producer of Animation and Digital Asset Production, to be one of our storytellers. Tia is an ignitor and without her this would not be possible. ​

Vox Siren is constantly thinking about how to create inclusivity, uplift all women's stories and learn from our mistakes. It was extraordinary to work with a marketing agency that understood the power of these values.

​This inspired us to ask Tera Hatfield, Design Lead, at The Lodge at Wieden+Kennedy, more about what and who they valued in the technology field.

The Lodge -- it was established to shake up the way creativity works with technology. This team of curious-minded experts in machine learning, interaction design, real-time graphics, architecture, sensor technology and other emergent parts of technology are focused on using tech to solve human problems, bridging the gap between a brand’s purpose and their customer’s reality, and creating experiences for brands that are less expected and more magical, joyful, and provocative.​

Who are some women in tech that you respect in the PDX area and at Wieden+Kennedy?

Oh dear, there are too many to name—many of whom excel in relative anonymity—but make no mistake, Portland is stacked with talented women in design and technology, and I will damn well try to name them all and fail miserably. The women in technology I know and love tend to be versatile—slaying not only in conceptual design, thinking, and making but also in development and engineering of products and experiences that are inclusive and that murder expectations.

​The lady bosses you likely already know and lurve—Heather Champ, Tiffany Beers, Kelley Roy, Jessie White, Tina Glengary Cordes, and Colleen DeCourcy. Each of these women do something very different under the auspices of "technology," and are helping to shape the future of this broad and creative field.

Other ladies that float my technological boat: Traci Sym, Stephanie Dunx, Traci Sym, Erica Warren, and Stephanie Duncker. At W+K, I get to work with young and crazy talented women who will some day in the not too distant future rule the creative tech world: Manxue Way, Jes Marquez, Claire Wilson and Lindsey Murphy.​Lastly, I'm also part of a small, nimble crew of women that organize Ladies Night—a quarterly happy hour for digitally-minded, female-identifying folk, committed to conversation, collaboration & community. Even just a few years ago, it wasn't easy to find other ladies in this field. This quarterly event ensures when you're a lady in tech and design, you're never alone. Etch these names into your memory and say hello to them at the next event: Jordan A. Smith, Emily Plummer (of donut.js), Aimee Reed, Gina Giampaolo, Ginger Craft, Mary Blalock, and Sarah Cespedes.

​Do you have a woman you admire, look up to in science, engineering, technology or mathematics? I grew up in a blue collar family. I didn't really see or hear about women in technology, science or engineering in general. I still remember a fifth grade visit from a long-haired, well intentioned male engineer from Microsoft who made the epic journey across the Puget Sound too woo us with tales of lunchtime cookie buffets and relaxed dress codes (no shoes required?!) that all made us ooh and aah. Anything went at this crazy new workplace! Except if you were a girl, apparently they had none. When I asked if a girl engineer could visit—he blandly stated there weren't any women in his department.

I'm an odd ball tomboy born in the early 80s—obsessed with the films of Spielberg, Gibson novels, Punky Brewster, Spiderman comics, Oregon Trail on the Apple II, and the heartbreaking promise of the Nintendo Power Glove. I grew up watching plucky hacker kids solving mysteries with computers on Whiz Kids, Bill Nye and Mr. Wizard doing untold number of amazing experiments in their backyards. This was a present and future I could nerd out on, but there weren't that many women characters that I connected with.

Childhood heroes included astronaut Sally Ride and Gillian Anderson's Agent Dana Scully of the X-Files but it wasn't until I was older and stumbled across an article here or there that I discovered throngs of women that have made a dent in the world. My top three favorite?

What is the most diverse teams you have worked on? What did diversity bring to the end product?The most diverse teams I've worked on are often self initiated side projects with other women.

In more recent professional settings, W+K's the Lodge has been a breath of fresh air. We have folks from incredibly diverse professional and cultural backgrounds and we have 4-5 female creatives working as designers and/or engineers. That said we still have a long way to go. The Lodge is involved in development programs like Code2040 and Ladies Night among others and are actively looking to even the gender split as we grow.

​When you have a non-homogeneous team stacked with diverse individuals—the solutions are always 100% smarter, more innovative, nuanced and inclusive. Google it, there are too many Harvard Business Review articles to prove it.

What excites you about the future of the tech industry in PDX? Portland's tech industry is clearly beginning to flourish with businesses like Google, Smith Optics, UnderArmour, and AirBnB (among others) moving to Portland. More importantly, this city has a solid foundation in innovation, higher education, smart infrastructure, and material sciences thanks to forward thinkings citizens, designers, policy-makers and home grown companies like Nike.

Pointed applications for VR and AR as well as advances in smart infrastructure, material science and nanotechnology that meaningfully connect our digital and physical lives are what get me stoked.

More importantly though I think Portland has a real opportunity to be the first city to begin to truly democratize technology—to learn from the mistakes of other cities, to truly provide access to the tools that are defining the future to the most unlikely citizens, to engage people of color in meaningful ways, and perhaps most importantly... to remain open and inclusive in its problem-solving instead of turning inward towards isolationist projects and opportunities for 1 percenters. We have real problems to solve, big and small, and we're going to need all the heart and brain-power this city can muster.

Women in Portland and across the country have been working relentlessly to shift culture in technology companies in order to create a working space where we all can thrive. We have known that diverse women in leadership positions means better designed and produced products. Design + Culture Lab has been contracted to evaluate our city's progress towards these goals via the PDC. The report is called the Techtown Diversity Pledge Annual Report. It is anticipated it will be released to the public this Spring. We are anxious to learn from this report and ready to dive deeper into the work.

​We sat down with Jared and asked him about the powerhouse women in our area and why diversity is better for business.

Who are some women in tech that you respect in the PDX area?

In male-dominated tech I admire all women in the industry, and I’m particularly impressed with women who have overcome barriers and continue to do so while also serving vital roles. I have the good fortune to work with many women in tech who have positively impacted my work. Some of the stand-outs are Monica Enand and Ilana Davis at Zapproved, Laura Stepp of Jama, Elizabeth Robillard of Lytics, Abby Miles and Sarah Nanbu at OpenSesame, Krista Van Veen at ThinkShout, Sarah Olbekson at inDinero and Theresa Hilinski at Technology Association of Oregon.

We created a Super: STEM women coloring book that have modern and historical women in the field? Do you have a woman you admire, look up to in science, engineering, technology or mathematics?

Three historical figures come to mind: Ada Lovelace, Marie Curie, and Sally Ride. My mom is a high school math teacher and raised three kids as a single mother so I have a ton of admiration for her.

Ada Lovelace: Image from Vox Siren's Super: STEM Women Coloring Book

What is the most diverse team you have worked on? What did diversity bring to the end product?

I have two answers to this.First, I grew up in North Carolina and went to a diverse high school where I played sports. Our school district diversity was more than skin deep; it ranged from the inner city to rural areas where some of my classmates worked on the farm before they came to class. My sophomore year, our basketball team was half white guys and half black guys. We were supposed to be good, but we were 1-4 and about to play the best team in the city. Our African-American coach benched our four best players before the game, and we ended up winning on a shot at the buzzer. I still remember everyone jumping on the kid who made the shot and the locker room after. We kept the same starting lineup the rest of the year and only lost two more times. I give a lot of credit to our coach for making it clear that the only thing that mattered was our performance around the shared goal. I have no doubt the commonality among us and our shared pursuit of a goal was a major contributor to our success.

Second is the work environment at PDC, which has the most female-male diversity I’ve experienced professionally. The culture is welcoming, people share opinions, and we focus on getting the work done right. Our mission is to create economic growth and opportunity, which is the foundation of my work on the diversity pledge. The pledge and the actions we are taking are a direct result of the diverse set of people involved.

What excites you about the future of the tech industry in PDX?

For the past 30 years Portland has solved problems with progressive solutions, which often means we do things differently than other places. I’m excited about continuing that tradition in tech, which has become such a part of our lives. We have real opportunities to use tech to address civic issues more effectively and make money by doing so. Companies like Moovel are the tip of the smart cities’ iceberg.

Additionally, the strongest tech products and services utilize network effects, so the broader the appeal the better the outcome. I contend that companies with diverse teams are able to better understand and appeal to more potential customers, and will have a competitive advantage. Given our increasingly diverse population, the importance of connecting with that diverse consumer base is growing. Many in Portland tech already understand this business case for diversity. When coupled with our willingness to do things differently, I’m really excited about Portland Tech leading the nation on diversifying the workforce.

Are there any women entrepreneurs that we should be looking out for?

Two of the most impressive entrepreneurs I have worked with in Portland are Paige Hendrix Buckner and Lynn Le. Both are Startup Weekend and Startup PDX Challenge alums, relentless workers, passionate and compassionate. Paige and Lynn seek out feedback and actively listen to advice from others but do not act on everything they hear. They know how to build product and sell it, and how to build a team.

Maria should probably take a vacation. She probably won't. She’s persistent. There's work to do. It is and was always thus for her. As a wee grasshopper of four years old Maria was mesmerized by her Grandfather’s GIANT chess set. She HAD to learn to play, she begged, she pleaded. He said to her little pursed lips, “It’s hard. Something only big people do.” Like a drunk stranger saying “I love you” over and over to you at the end of the night, she hammered him. Finally, after a monsoon of begging he caved in. Family legend has it that she was a natural from the get-go and even taught her brother how to play. Also legend…when Maria gets her hooks into something she’s interested in — it can twist, turn and tangle for forever to try and elude her giant brain’s grasp but Maria. Does. Not. Care. How. Long. It. Takes. “I won’t give up until I figure out what the hell I’m doing.” Ergo as an adult in the mid-90s Maria applied for an application technical support position...HEAR THE REST OF HER STORY AT SUPER: WOMEN IN TECH LIVE STORYTELLING EVENT*EXCERPT TAKEN FROM THE SUPER: STEM WOMEN COLORING BOOKGET YOUR TICKET AND COLORING BOOK TODAY: https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1385959?utm_source=os​

Brook Shelley lives in Portland, OR with her cat, Snorri. After realizing IT paid her rent more than reading literature all day, she began to fix laptops at the University of Texas. After years in the support, development, and server worlds, she now focuses on building a better software release and response tooling at Turbine Labs.

In addition to her work, her writing has appeared in The Toast, Lean Out, Transfigure, and the Oregon Journal of the Humanities. She regularly speaks at conferences on queer & trans issues, and is on the board of directors for both Basic Rights Oregon, and the Enthusiasm Collective.

​Don't miss her story - it is incredible! Get your tickets today to the Super: Tech Women Storytelling Event!

Failed comedian, award-winning dramatic interpretation performance speaker, and community-taught software engineer. She is also one of the founding members of Twilio’s diversity and inclusion initiative, runs a group called “Diversity Advocates,” and is the San Francisco City Director for Lesbians Who Tech.

Whilst attending San Francisco State University, Dom prized her friends, social life, and dogs over school. Truthfully, though, a lot her time was sucked up by an hour-and-a-half drive back and forth from her parents’ house to school and a few rando jobs, with classes sandwiched in between. (The irony is not lost that her parents were pushed out of the city, where they’d lived for decades, by gentrification in 2000, causing the whole family this giant commute to be educated and earn a living.) She’d attend classes and just kind of hang out, not really participating. Seven years later she had accumulated a myriad of different tracks — ten credits shy of three different majors. Eventually a dean pulled her in and was like, “You need to graduate. You need to leave.” Her special college degree is basically a communication analysis of the performativity of lesbians in mainstream media from 2001 to 2007. Initially, she was resistant to being in tech. She saw programming as more of a logical shortcut, not a passion. One of those random jobs was working at Best Buy, where she fixed computers. Then she fixed computers at an enterprise scale and figured, “I could automate this,” and did it. Dom inherited the legacy of Linux machines from some dude at work who quit, and she saw that a lot of tasks were just repeating senselessly so she began scripting some of those processes. From there her education was community-taught from reading books, to watching free online tutorials, to tapping a ton of people’s shoulders and time. She is forever grateful for the free time people have given to help her understand and grasp concepts. Her passion for being a tech person materialized once she moved to Twilio and started developing things. It is important to her to give lots of credit to the people in the community who have supported her. “It wasn’t until I joined Lesbians Who Tech that I realized that I could have a positive lesbian role model in my life. I was like, ‘Holy shit. They exist.’” She feels lucky that, as she puts it, “I found some random loophole or some random person to give me a shot. I owe almost everything in my tech career to two people. They did this thing where they assessed what I knew and what I didn’t know and how long it would take me to get up to speed. That’s something I’ve never forgotten and something that I want to give as an opportunity to everyone else.” You can catch Dom riding around San Francisco on her motorcycle and stopping to pet all the dogs.

There are two things that make up Leah Siddall, video processing and cats. Nori, Leah’s cat, would describe her as kind, compassionate and always up for providing belly rubs. When not giving belly rubs to her cat, you can find Leah jamming out on her bass guitar and tinkering with her retro gaming mods. Leah started her tech career at a large broadcaster based out of Atlanta. Starting as the overnight engineer, she quickly became aware of the systems involved in day to day operations. Not one to go in half full, Leah submerged herself in her work. She began learning the best ways to architect end to end solutions that scale to thousands of users, long before the “cloud” was a thing. If you ever watched a live NBA game or viewed news clips from CNN’s website, Leah played a major role in bringing those to life. After a few years of being deemed the “Digital Goddess”, Leah decided it was time for a change. Following the idea of being first to market and best, she decided to step into greener pastures Elemental provided. Holding roles in support, and the product specialist for Origin services, she finally shifted roles to a Technical Marketing engineer. In this role she is able to completely immerse herself in bleeding edge technologies. Virtual Reality, HDR, 4K video compression; you name it, she had a hand in understanding and driving innovation in a ways the video industry and average consumer can apply these technologies in their everyday life.Don't miss her story - it is incredible! Get your tickets today to the Super: Tech Women Storytelling Event!

Saira Weigel,Executive Producer of Animation and Digital Asset Production, Wieden+Kennedy Portland Saira Weigel is the executive producer of animation and digital asset production, overseeing a team of 10 motion artists for one of the world’s most creative companies. She grew up in Kuwait and Kerala, in South India, learning to speak four languages, including her mother tongue Malayalam, the national language of Hindi, as well as Arabic and English. At the end of her undergraduate studies in computer science and engineering, a thesis project in coding led to creating animated visuals and inspired Saira to pursue a masters in computer animation. It was a decision that ultimately brought her to America in 1993, after convincing her parents it would lead to a career at NASA or in medical research. It didn’t work out that way, but she landed in the then-thriving VFX industry in the Bay Area. The combination of programming and animation studies led to her first job, as a technical director for Tippett Studio, which was beginning production on a VFX-heavy film, Starship Troopers (later to be known as one of sci-fi’s greatest cult classics). A strong desire to be involved in productions, and a knack for finding opportunities to tell stories in traditional as well as new and alternative media, has led to a 21-year career in animation spanning both coasts. Prior to Wieden+Kennedy, Saira has lent her talents to a wide range of production houses: the Academy Award–nominated stop-motion animation studio LAIKA, award-winning ad house Psyop, the CG feature animation house Blue Sky Studios, and even a few years running her own business, among other creative endeavors. Today she lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two children. Don't miss her story - it is incredible! Get your tickets today to the Super: Tech Women Storytelling Event!

]]>Thu, 17 Nov 2016 20:22:39 GMThttp://www.voxsiren.com/blog-and-press/super-women-in-tech-live-storytelling-event-on-sale-nowGet ready Portland, Vox Siren and Back Fence PDX have come together to bring the first ever, Super, Women in Tech live storytelling event! It is badass to see more and more women of all colors and cultural backgrounds in tech! Wouldn’t you kill to watch women tell their personal stories of influencing the way shit gets done and blowing new

doors into the thick walls of the patriarchal techo-chamber? Women have been relegated to the background in this environment for too long, their important contributions not highlighted. We’re changing all that by bringing SIX women to the Rev Hall stage on January 27th, 2017 to share their never been told, true stories. Get your tickets here, before they sell out!

A percentage of our proceeds will go to Black Girls CODE. Black Girls CODE is devoted to showing the world that black girls, when given the opportunity, excel at code. Black Girls CODE does this through workshops and after school programs that introduce underrepresented communities in gaining skills in computer programming. Their ultimate goal is to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040. We are thrilled to be putting our capital to what we believe in!

With the support from our sponsors we are working with Wieden + Kennedy to produce the first Super: Women in Tech coloring book. This book will feature illustrations and short stories about 15 local and national women in technology.

Join us in listening to stories from Dominique Deguzman from Twillo, Melinda Campbell from Puppet Inc., Maria Webster, Jenna Hieldbrand from Elemental, Saira Weigel from Wieden and Kennedy.

We are looking for one more story from a local or national woman!Have a story or know someone who does? Pitch here.

Want to become a sponsor and get your company’s logo on the coloring book, contact Zoe at zoepiliafas@gmail.com

]]>Tue, 15 Nov 2016 22:41:54 GMThttp://www.voxsiren.com/blog-and-press/meet-our-advisory-boardWe are happy to announce our Board of Advisors. We realize an important part of being leaders and moving Vox Siren towards creating further culture shift, is to seek out the counsel of people we respect. We worked in the summer months to bring on a group of women leaders from a variety of industries. Please join us in welcoming our trusted 2016-2017 Board of Advisors.

Eileen Boerger, Co-owner of CorSource Technology

Eileen Boerger is an innovative and award winning senior-level executive with over 40 years of experience in the software development and services industries. She has developed and sold to companies of all sizes and a variety of industries including healthcare, nonprofit, financial, software security, logistics and energy. A groundbreaking woman in software and the first to outsource to Vietnam, she's consistently led the way in strategic partnerships, cloud computing, product management, CRM, SaaS, data analytics, business development, consulting, integration, strategy, team building and training, as well as start-ups.

Currently, Eileen is the CEO, Board Director, and co-owner of CorSource Technology. Since taking over leadership of the company, she has led CorSource to record growth - both in terms of revenue and profitability. She focused recent activities on representing the company's image to potential clients, leading negotiations and building teams for each new contract. Most recently she successfully completed her own succession planning including promotion, training, and handing over of responsibilities.​Why Vox Siren?“For over 40 years I have been part of the tech industry (starting as a software developer and now a CEO of a tech company), I have supported programs to attract more women into engineering and into the tech industry. I am disheartened by the fact that after 40 years, the percentages of women in tech fields have not improved much, if at all. I joined the board of Vox Siren because I believe in their mission of focusing on the culture of tech organizations to change the makeup of the tech workforce in a way that attracts and retains not only women but other underrepresented groups. This is not an easy change to accomplish, and I believe that Vox Siren is focused on the key issue - organizational culture.” - Eileen Boerger

Tia Coachman, Wieden and Kennedy

Tia Coachman is passionate about empowering people at the points where their personal and professional lives intersect and helping to facilitate their simple dreams and big ideas. She gets to fulfill these passions everyday at the creatively-led, independent advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy, as a not-so-traditional HR business partner. In her former life, she served as an HR Advisor for the Government of the District of Columbia and a Management Analyst at the Federal level for the Department of Homeland Security. She also co-founded and served as Managing Director of The Sevan Group, a African-American Woman-owned photography and design studio.

Tia holds an MBA from the University of Maryland University College and a BBA from Howard University. She is an active contributor to her communities of color and women as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Vice-President of the Portland Willamette Valley Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., and also as a member of the Board of Directors for Bitch Media.

Why Vox Siren?"Because I couldn't think of a reason why I shouldn't. I believe in the vision set forth by its Founders and also the need for the culture shift in corporations that Vox Siren will help to create. But, mostly, because it is my voice and others like mine that this organization seeks to prioritize...and it is, therefore, deserving of any help toward that endeavor that I can offer." - Tia Coachman

Linda Weston, Former President and Executive Director of OEN

Linda Weston is President & Executive Director at Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. Linda knows everyone in this city. But the way Linda knows them is with intention, where folks know she is entering into a business relationship with them to lift up mutually beneficially goals. Prior to that, she spent 18 years in the tourism industry in Eugene, 15 of those with Travel Lane County, and the last 8 years as CEO. In 1996, Linda was recruited by the American Basketball League to serve as the startup General Manager of the Portland Power women’s professional basketball team. Linda was selected by Portland Business Journal as one of 25 outstanding Women in Businessin 2002 and 2005. In 2005 she was one of three national finalists for the “Supporter of Entrepreneurship” award in conjunction with Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. In 2007 she was recognized by Northwest Women’s Journal as one of “100 Most Powerful Women” in the Northwest. In 2016 she was the co-winner of the Advocate of the Year for the Portland Business Journal’s Innovation Awards and winner of 2016 OEN Lifetime Achievement Award.

Why Vox Siren?"I’m serving on VoxSiren’s advisory board because the work they are doing is very important to me. By helping to address institutional bias, VoxSiren can play a role in creating equity and opportunity for everyone. They’re developing systems and programs to help all kinds of companies and organizations better deal with this challenge." - Linda Weston

​

Laura Stepp, Vice President of People and Organization Development for Puppet, Inc.

Laura Stepp is the Vice President of People and Organization Development for Puppet, Inc. an enterprise software company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. In her role there she leads the human resources function and provides leadership on culture, diversity and inclusion efforts in partnership with the CEO. Laura has over 20 years of progressive experience in strategic global human resources and organization development roles spanning multiple industries. Prior to Puppet, Inc., Laura spent 12 years at Intel Corporation where she led organization consulting, leadership development, strategic HR program, and business partnering teams there. At Intel Laura spent time both as the HR Director for Intel’s Software and Services Group as well as the IT organization and has long had a passion for working on the challenges of developing innovative, high performance and inclusive organizations and cultures. Prior to Intel, Laura led the Organization and Performance Practices group at Nike, managed leadership, management, team and employee development for Mentor Graphics Corp. and has also worked as an independent organization and management consultant with key clients in financial services and healthcare.

Laura holds a BA in Psychology with Honors and a Minor in Feminist Studies from Stanford University. She also earned a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is an accredited International Coach Federation (ICF) ACC level executive/leadership coach with a certificate in Evidence-Based Coaching from Fielding Graduate University. In January of 2012, Laura published an article entitled, “Building an Internal Organization Design Capability at Intel” in the People & Strategy Journal and has been an invited speaker on the subject of organization design. Laura has a lovely wife and three teenage children that are now her primary hobby, replacing a former love for dance. She is formerly the 3-year Chair of the Odyssey Program PTA and Board Secretary for the YWCA of Portland and is excited to now be turning to new exciting challenges presented by the Vox Siren Advisory Board.

Why Vox Siren?"Being the daughter of a mother who was a part of the first, “Mary-Tyler Moore” wave of executive women moving into senior leadership roles in the business world, you could say I have been born and bred to be attuned to issues of diversity, and specifically issues related to gender, in the workplace and in the world. I am a passionate, long-standing feminist and believe that finding ways to unleash the potential of girls and women in any community/culture results in positive benefits for everyone in that community/culture. I have had years of applied leadership experience within organizations working on the imperative to improve diversity. And finally, I consider one of my strengths to be design – whether design of organizations, interactive or guided experience, or learning. As it so happens, then, Vox Siren’s goals and needs are a great match to my passions, experience and strengths. I look forward to generating ideas and supporting the leaders of the organization with their mission in partnership with my fellow Board members." - Laura Stepp

We are honored to have you join us and advise us on our journey towards culture shift! We have much to learn and many opportunities to grow with everyone's support.